I'd Rather Be In Prison
by TheRealBakura
Summary: After being framed for the murder of his little brother, Mokuba, and the attempted murder of his friend, Ryou Bakura, Kaiba has to live with Maximillion Pegasus until he's 31. He wants to escape to home at first, but, soon, he doesn't want to leave, and Pegasus doesn't want him to leave, either. Who will manage to keep Pegasus and Kaiba apart?
1. Punishment

The alarm clock sounded it's alarm, which was heavily reminiscent of a buzzer. Kaiba screamed and turned it off. 4:30 on a Saturday morning; why did he even set the alarm?

"Good morning, Kaiba-boy!"

Right. He hadn't set the alarm. Pegasus had. Why did he even choose to move in with Pegasus? Oh, now he remembered. Now, he remembered it like it was yesterday, and he didn't want to remember a particle of it.

 _Mokuba walked to the window, and looked out of it. Kaiba put a hand on his shoulder as the tiger on the other side came over and inspected the glass. The tiger looked into Mokuba's eyes, and licked the glass. Mokuba smiled. The tiger looked up at Kaiba, and made a fierce growl, and turned away._

 _"Why'd it do that, Seto?", Mokuba asked._

 _"Animals don't like me," Kaiba explained._

 _Mokuba smiled as Kaiba picked him up and sat him on his shoulders."Your Blue-Eyes White Dragon likes you," he said._

 _"Duel Monsters don't count. Anyway, what do you think?"_

 _"It's amazing. There are so many."_

 _Kaiba smiled, and put him down on his feet. "I knew you liked them. This only cost a few thousand dollars; it's not much. You... DUCK, MOKUBA!"_

 _Mokuba didn't know what to expect, and didn't register his brother's command in time. He went down, a dagger poking out of his chest. When he fell, a familiar man was behind him, but Kaiba couldn't identify him. He walked over to Mokuba's dead, bleeding body, and pulled the dagger out of his chest. He approached Kaiba, and put the dagger on his wrist._

 _He had white hair that went just a little past his shoulders, and deep brown eyes. He was wearing jeans, a white-and-blue striped T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. He had bright white sneakers, as if they were brand-new. He walked in a manner of moving his hips to whatever side the foot that was moving forward was on, somehow managing to show an evil manner. Maybe Kaiba recognized it as evil because it was the way he walked when he wanted to look sinister._

 _"Your brother went first," he said. His voice was deep, but had a hint of an accent to it, an accent Kaiba couldn't identify. He laughed maniacally."It's your turn!"_

 _He slashed the dagger across Kaiba's wrist. Blood started pouring out from the injury and he raised the dagger to do it again. As he was about to slash, there was a bang, and a bullet hit the ground._

 _"Put your hands in the air!"_

 _Kaiba looked out of the corner of his eye. Policemen. The person slashed himself with the dagger across the throat, chest, wrists and forearms. Blood started pouring out, and he dropped the dagger. It clattered on the tiles, and he turned around. Kaiba stood to the side._

 _Now, this person didn't look like an adult, as he had before, but, rather Kaiba's age. His eyes weren't slit-like anymore, but wide and innocent. As he walked forward to the policeman that had shot the ground, he walked normally, not in the sinister fashion that he had seconds ago._

 _"Please, help me," he begged. His accent was heavy, now, and Kaiba could identify it. British. "He... he..."_

 _The kid fell down. One of the policemen there picked him up, and another approached Kaiba. "Who is this child, and why did you attack him?"_

 _"I didn't hurt the kid," Kaiba said. "He hurt me, and injured himself! He's acting, I tell you! I don't even know who this kid is!"_

 _The policeman leaned down and picked up the wallet in front of Kaiba. He pulled out a Learner's Permit with a name printed on the front:_ Bakura Ryou.

 _He handed the Learner's Permit to Kaiba. "Now, do you recognize him?"_

 _Kaiba nodded. "He's a friend."_

 _"Why would you hurt your own friend?"_

 _"I'm telling you, he hurt me!"_

 _Kaiba pushed the policeman away, and he fell to the ground. The other policemen, along with Bakura, looked at the scene. All of the policemen, including the one that was pushed over looked at Kaiba in shock. Bakura, being weak and nearly bloodless, had no visible expression._

 _One of the other policemen put a pair of handcuffs around Kaiba's wrists. "Seto Kaiba, I'm placing you under arrest for the attempted murder of Bakura Ryou, and the murder of... that kid.", he said, pointing to Mokuba._

 _"That's my little brother. Bakura killed him. Please, I didn't do anything.", Kaiba said._

 _"Yeah, that's what they all say," the policeman said._

 _"Wait."_

 _Bakura was trying to extend an arm to Kaiba. "Don't send him to jail, at least. Send him with some other person, for however long he would be in jail. Please, you can't send him to prison."_

 _He fainted in the policeman's arms. That policeman put a hand on Ryou's neck, and quickly breathed a sigh of relief. It was more than likely that he had been looking for a pulse, and had found one._

 _"In respect for the victim, we will send you, Seto Kaiba, to the home of your largest rival in business: Maximillion Pegasus."_

It took three days, but the government managed to get Kaiba to Industrial Illusions, the company Pegasus worked for. Kaiba would be there for the next 17 years of his life, and KaibaCorp would be in the control of Industrial Illusions until then.

Kaiba knew that he wanted to be anywhere but with Pegasus. All Pegasus wanted to do was talk about Duel Monsters, about his (deceased) wife, about the Millennium Items. Very rarely would he get Kaiba talking, the only way he would was with a conversation about the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card: Kaiba's favorite.

Kaiba knew that Bakura was alright. He still called Industrial Illusions every now and then, just to check on Kaiba. Bakura would sometimes be heavily British and forgiving, and sometimes his voice would be deeper and sinister, and he would be revengeful.

The worst part of all this was working for Industrial Illusions. Kaiba was Pegasus's apprentice, and in around 8 years, he would take over Industrial Illusions, and KaibaCorp with it. Kaiba would still be living with Pegasus for another seven long years before he got his own company back, and got to go home.

Until then, it was life with Pegasus. He had been there for 2 years already, and every day since the first felt like a year on it's own. Would the misery, pain, and agony ever end? In 15 years, it would. Now, it was another Saturday morning.

Get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, do chores, go out and run the errands, play a few rounds of Duel Monsters with Pegasus, who was now without his Millennium Eye, and much more vulnerable in that game. Still, Kaiba couldn't beat him, and he had been dueling him once every day for 2 years.

Kaiba hoped to beat him today. Then again, he had been hoping every day since the day after the first duel, the first he had lost to Pegasus while he didn't have his Millennium Eye, and the second in general. He knew it, he was going to defeat Pegasus today.

He flipped the blanket off of him, and Pegasus was at the foot of his bed. "Breakfast," Pegasus told him, "Then you can tidy up the living room and your office after you get dressed."

Pegasus left, then Kaiba groaned. Ever since he was 8 years old, he had lived around maids. He had never had to cook, clean, or run any errands for himself, he had maids to do it. Even after 2 years, he still wasn't accustomed to doing these things himself, and he had another 15 years to live this way.

So was another day in the Pegasus-Kaiba household.


	2. Reminder

Kaiba walked through the hallways, right to the kitchen. He walked in, expecting to have to cook for himself (as he always did), but there was already a plate on the table, steaming hot with bacon and eggs. There was also a mug of coffee next to it, flavored French Vanilla, as Kaiba could tell from scent.

"Surprise! Happy birthday, Kaiba-boy!", Pegasus said, smiling.

Kaiba had entirely forgotten that it was his birthday. How often did Pegasus do something nice for him, anyway? Oh, well, take the opportunity when you have it. But, still, what if Pegasus was trying to poison him? He wasn't sure what to think. He just moved to the side, and avoided the table. He reached into the cabinet, pulled out a glass, opened the fridge, and poured a glass of orange juice.

"Hey! I made you coffee!", Pegasus shouted, watching Kaiba sip from the glass.

"Sorry, I don't like coffee," Kaiba lied.

"Don't lie to me," Pegasus said, walking over to Kaiba and stealing the glass from his hands. "I've seen you up early, mostly around... I want to say, 3:00. You're trying to work, but you don't have the energy. Instead of grabbing a soda from the fridge, you brew yourself a coffee; the soda would've taken less time. You seem to prefer coffee to soda pop. So, explain to me, Kaiba-boy, why are you denying it now?"

"One, don't question me. Two, how do you know what I do at 3:00 in the morning?", Kaiba asked.

Pegasus smiled. "One, don't question **me**. Two, I have security cameras, you know," Pegasus answered.

Kaiba picked the coffee mug up off of the table. He took a spoon out of the drawer, and put two spoonfuls of sugar inside. He started stirring, and turned around to look at Pegasus. "Stalker," he muttered, taking a sip of the coffee.

Pegasus smiled, and turned away. Kaiba felt a cramp in his left leg, and fell to the ground. Did Pegasus actually poison the coffee enough that two spoons of sugar couldn't cancel it out? Kaiba kept the coffee mug in his grip, however. He didn't care if it was poisoned, it was better than when he made his own coffee.

He felt his leg loosen up, and he got back onto his feet. Pegasus was still standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway, watching. Kaiba put the mug back onto the table, and ran past Pegasus, down the hallway, and into his room.

"I didn't poison it!", Pegasus yelled after him.

Kaiba closed his bedroom door, and locked it. He shut the blinds and pulled the curtains back on all of the windows. He turned on the light, and pulled out an outfit. He groaned as he heard Pegasus pound on the door.

"Hey! What did I ever do to you?!", Pegasus asked.

"Let's see," Kaiba said, approaching the door. "You kidnapped my brother and trapped his soul in a card, you trapped my soul in a card, you... um..."

"I think that's pretty much it," Pegasus said.

"Okay, then. You don't need to brag about it. I'm getting dressed!"

He ignored anything Pegasus said, if he said anything, after that. He looked at the clothes as he carefully unfolded them. When he left KaibaCorp, he had to abandon all of his KaibaCorp uniforms and and other things. Now, his outfit consisted of a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve black shirt. It was that every day, and nothing more. The first day he was forced to wear it, Kaiba realized it was probably the least amount of clothing he had worn since he was adopted by Gozaburo Kaiba.

He slipped off his nightshirt, and and put on the long-sleeve. He took off the pants that matched his nightshirt, and slipped on the pair of jeans. He sighed as he folded his nightclothes and sat them on his bed. He opened the curtains and blinds again, and turned off the light. He unlocked the door and stepped out. Pegasus was right outside the door, fully dressed, as well.

"Also, I just told you that you had chores to keep everything a surprise. I'm going to clean the whole house today while you go out and do whatever you feel like. Here," he said.

He forced a roll of 50-dollar bills into Kaiba's hand. "That's $5,000. Have fun, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus said.

Kaiba walked past Pegasus as he pulled his vacuum cleaner out of his closet and plugged it into the wall. He walked out the door, and outside. He took in a breath of fresh air, the first he had breathed in for a week. He walked away from the house, and out onto the streets.

First, he stopped at the nearby Game Shop, which was nothing like Yugi's grandfather's. This Game Shop was run by a citizen of the town, who had become Kaiba's friend once Kaiba had become an everyday customer. He walked in.

"Welcome to Dragon Game Shop, where everything is... Oh, hi, Seto!"

Kaiba smiled. "Hey, Mitsuko."

"Stopping here so early," the girl said, twirling a lock of long, thin, blonde hair around her finger. "Normally, you're not here until the evening! Also, happy birthday! I have something for you!"

Mitsuko went over and grabbed a small box off of the shelf. She took a pair of scissors and carefullycut the tape keeping the box sealed. "I haven't opened it at all since it got mailed to me. I was waiting for you to come so we could see it together."

"What is it?", Kaiba asked.

"I'll show you," Mitsuko said, lifting the flaps of the box.

Kaiba couldn't see anything inside, there was packing popcorn all inside the box. Mitsuko was smiling, as if she knew what was in there, as if she was excited to see the look on Kaiba's face when he saw it. She carefully swiped the packing popcorn away, and pulled a glass box out of the cardboard one.

Inside was a small statue of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Mitsuko stepped out from behind the counter to look at it next to Kaiba. Her face showed awe.

"I knew it would look amazing. It's made out of porcelain, Seto, porcelain! Every dollar was worth it," She said, hugging his arm.

"What?"

"It took a lot of time to get this. I ordered it in March, but I didn't get it until late September! Anyway, it was $100 dollars for the statue in general. The rarer the Duel Monster that the statue was being made of was, the higher the price. Considering that there are only three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards left in the world, I paid almost $110,000 in total. Still, I'm glad to know you have it and like it," Mitsuko said.

"Like it? I love it! You're amazing, Mitsuko."

"Good to know. Here," she said, passing a bag to Kaiba. "That bag is lined with foam. If you put your dragon in there, it won't get smashed. Also, free upgrade pack for your deck," Mitsuko said, passing a small package to Kaiba. "10 cards each. That comes from the 'Legacy of the Dragons' set, so it's more than likely all of the cards in that pack will work for your deck."

"Thanks! Goodbye, Mitsuko!", he said, on his way out the door.

"Take care!", she said, waving goodbye.

He exited, and headed for a downtown coffee shop. After what Pegasus had given him, he needed a cappuccino. Sure enough, he ordered one. While sitting to the side, waiting for his order to come through, a familiar person sat next to Kaiba, and he noticed immediately.

Long white hair that reached the shoulders. Two wide, deep brown eyes that showed innocence. When walking to his seat, he walked an innocent walk. White-and-blue striped shirt and plain jeans. Bright white, brand-new sneakers. Kaiba also noticed him gripping a tiny plush doll of a zombie in his right hand. Taking in all of the details, Kaiba took one look at him, and froze.

It was Bakura.


	3. Anger

Kaiba couldn't breathe and he couldn't move. In all honesty, he was grateful for that, because he didn't want Bakura to know he was there, even if he was right next to him. As suddenly as his breathing and moving stopped, they started right back up again, when he felt a cold hand on his arm. He jumped, let out a yelp, and started hyperventilating.

"Hello, Kaiba," Bakura said, looking up at him.

Kaiba was still breathing hard. "Could you... get your hand off my... arm, please?"

"Oh, of course! Sorry," Bakura apologized, and pulled his hand back to his side. Kaiba looked at him, then turned away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kaiba was able to see Bakura look over at him. Kaiba started grinding his teeth, but turned his gaze to look over at Bakura and speak. Just then, Bakura picked up his receipt and stared down at it, and Kaiba got a glance at it: order 149. Kaiba's order wasn't too far away from that, at order 152.

Just then: "ORDER 148!", came out over the loudspeaker.

Bakuraa was going to be leaving soon, and Kaiba wouldn't ever have to see him again. He looked at the little plush doll Bakura was holding in his hand. Why a zombie?

"Hey," Kaiba muttered, leaning toward Bakura so he could hear him.

Kaiba sat straight as Bakura turned his head. "I was wondering, why the zombie?", Kaiba asked.

Bakura smiled. "I've always had a liking for the occult. The package containing it was sent on my birthday, according to the letter taped to the top, but it didn't get to my house until a few days ago. Inside was a ticket that would get me on a boat here.

"Actually, the letter, along with the doll, were from Pegasus. The letter said that this doll was a birthday present, and that the ticket was more like a birthday gift for him; that he would only be honored if I came here. But, I have to leave after today, so..."

"ORDER 149!", came out over the loudspeaker.

Bakura waved goodbye as he stood up and walked up to the counter to get his order. As he left, Kaiba could see that he ordered a breakfast doughnut and an iced coffee. Kaiba breathed out a sigh of relief when he knew Bakura was gone. He didn't care how long it had been, how nice Bakura was to him; he was scared that the police would find him next to Bakura and think it was another murder attempt.

He couldn't believe himself. He was Seto Kaiba, he wasn't afraid of anything, or, at least, he shouldn't have been. Now, he was practically terrified of a sweet little kid for something that had happened two years in the past. Still, he was amazed at how little Bakura had changed in two years.

His hair length and physical appearance were the same, and his voice hadn't changed a bit. Neither had his wardrobe, he was still wearing that same cream colored sweater, with that same pair of jeans and that same pair of sneakers. Kaiba had changed a little, with his hair being longer than it was two years ago, as well as his voice being slightly deeper. His wardrobe was different, but he could blame that on Pegasus.

"ORDER 152!", came over the loudspeaker.

Kaiba was surprised that he had been running his train of thought so fast that he had missed the lady at the speaker call two numbers other than his own. He stood up, grabbed his order, and left the coffee shop. It had been a long day, and all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. More than anything, he wanted to forget about Bakura so he didn't have to worry about him for the next 15 years.

He walked on home. As he walked past the Game Shop, Mitsuko came out of it, wearing a denim jacket she hadn't been wearing earlier. When she saw Kaiba walking past, she started running to catch up with him. She started walking at a normal pace when she was at his side, and Kaiba didn't look at her, so he probably didn't appear to notice her.

"Hi, Mitsuko," he said, wrapping an arm around her.

"Hi, Seto," she said, leaning into him. "So, where're you headed?", she asked.

"Home," he said quickly. "I've had a long day, even if it's..."

"10:00 in the morning," Mitsuko said, filling in the blank.

"Okay, 10:00 in the morning. I... saw a person I didn't want to see today, and I had a rough time. I just want to go home and sleep until dinner," Kaiba said.

Mitsuko put a finger to her lip, not to signify silence, but to signify that she was thinking. "His name wouldn't happen to be Ryou Bakura, would it?", she asked.

Kaiba looked at her, somewhat frightened. "Why do you ask?"

"He came into the store with a doughnut wrapper and a half-full iced coffee. He came up to me and asked if I had any Zombie cards. Of course, I did, nobody around here really likes Zombie cards at all. He gave me $100 for as many rare Zombie cards as I could give him. So, I gave him some of the rarest Zombie cards I had.

"After that, he wanted to talk, so we did. After a while, we found out we both knew you. First, he asked me how I knew you, and I gave him the answer: that you were a daily customer, and I came to be good friends with you. Then, in return, I asked him how he knew you. He said that it was a long story; that it was complicated. I said I liked long, complicated stories, which I don't; I just wanted to know how you met. So, he told me.

"He said that you first met after the Duelist Kingdom tournament that Maximillion Pegasus held. You then created the Battle City tournament, and he was a competitor there. He then made it to the finals, and was defeated by... someone else, he never said who it was. Huh. Anyway, then, after that, the two of you sort of... parted ways, and never said each other again. That's when he started to explain his dark side to me, and that... well, it explained nearly everything.

"He had a bizarre-looking necklace around his neck. He explained that it was an Ancient Egyptian artifact, and that he was received it from his father. Within it, he said, was an Ancient Egyptian spirit, one who was a thief and a criminal back in the days that he was alive. When he wanted to take over the poor kid's body and control it, he would control it, and that's how he started on the story of how you started staying on this island.

"He said that you were taking your little brother on a trip to be nice to him. I believe he said it was a birthday present for him, or something like that. Anyway, his dark side had taken over his body that day, and it had followed you. When it got there, it threw a dagger at your brother, who had turned around, and gotten stabbed with the dagger in his chest, instead of his back, where he was supposed to be hit. He started walking up to you, and pulled the dagger out of your little brother's chest when he came by.

"Then, it slashed the dagger across your wrist, creating that scar I've seen so many times before. Yes, I've seen it, Seto. Anyway, then the police came. It was a great actor, you see, so he pretended to be Ryou and said that you had done that to him. No matter how many times you begged and pleaded that he was the one who killed your brother and hurt himself to frame you, those police didn't believe you, and tried to take you to jail. But, the spirit did you a favor.

"It said not to take you to jail, but to let you live with another person for the duration of your prison sentence. The police put you with practically the person you hate most. Ryou said the spirit expected the police to put you with Yugi Muto or Joey Wheeler. But, they gave you to Maximillion Pegasus instead. Then Ryou explained how Pegasus had left him a birthday gift, and a ticket for a boat to this island. He said it was a one-day trip, so he wouldn't be here long. He then said he was glad to have met me, and he left," Mitsuko explained.

Kaiba looked at Mitsuko's watch. All the time she had wasted? Just about 5 minutes. Thank God for that. He gave her a pat on the shoulder, and hugged her. "See you tomorrow, afternoon," he said, and ran off.

He ran the entire way to Pegasus's house, and stopped at the door. It had been a long day, and he was ready to sleep. All he wanted to do was go upstairs. All he wanted was to lay down, sleep, and dream of happy things, like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He took in and let out a deep breath, and opened the door.

When he got inside, Pegasus was nowhere to be seen, but, then again, neither was the broom, or the feather duster. He was probably cleaning the laundry room, which gathered dust and dirt really quickly. He walked down the hallway, and put his hand on the doorknob to his bedroom. As he did, there was stifled laughter coming from the bedroom. It was Pegasus's voice. He had cleaned the room to scare Kaiba to death, Kaiba knew. All he did was roll his eyes, and open the door. When he did, he nearly fell over out of fright.

Pegasus had propped the broom and the feather duster up against the door of his closet, and sat on the bed. He had also taken off his shoes, and sat then against the bottom bedframe. Next to him was a young boy, one who Kaiba knew.

Long white hair that reached the shoulders. Two wide, deep brown eyes that showed innocence. White-and-blue striped shirt and plain jeans. Bright white, brand-new sneakers. He was also gripping a tiny plush doll of a zombie in his left hand. Kaiba actually did fall when he saw him.

Bakura was in Pegasus's house, sitting on Kaiba's bed. At this point, Kaiba couldn't keep his anger inside, and he lunged forward onto Bakura. The first thing he did was punch him in the face, but Bakura just pushed Kaiba off of him. Kaiba fell to the ground, but he quickly stood up and kicked him in the stomach. Bakura fell onto the mattress, moaning.

"Now, what was that about?", Pegasus asked, standing up and putting his hands on his thighs.

"He was in the coffee shop! He told everything to Mitsuko! He's in your house and on my bed! I don't want him here! Get him off the island!", Kaiba yelled.

Pegasus went over to Bakura and altered his position so he would be lying on the bed correctly. He then took a small, folded blanket out from under the bed, and draped it over him. Pegasus walked over to Kaiba, put an arm around him, and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him, and he walked Kaiba into the kitchen.

"I expected you to come home a little later," Pegasus said, taking bread out of the cabinet and putting two slices in the toaster. "What's the bag for?", he asked.

Kaiba hadn't dropped the bag off in his room. He had fought Bakura with the bag in his hand the whole time? Now, he was scared that he had broken the $110,000 statue that Mitsuko had gotten for him. He quickly pulled the glass box out to inspect it.

Not a single crack in the glass, or a chip on the statue. It was still good-as-new, he didn't have to worry about lying to Mitsuko about it's condition or trying to fix it himself. Kaiba looked up from the statue and saw Pegasus looking at it, too. He extended a single hand to Kaiba.

"May I?", Pegasus asked.

Kaiba reluctantly passed the statue to Pegasus. "It's $110,000. Don't do anything to it."

Pegasus tilted the box slightly in a few directions to look at the statue inside. He smiled, and put it on the most secure shelf in the kitchen. "There," he said. "Now, it's safe."

Kaiba smiled. "Thanks, Pegasus," he said.

"Now, now, Kaiba-boy, you needn't be so formal. Call me Maximillion, or Max, if you'd like. I'll even call you by first name, if you'd like me to," he said.

Kaiba gave him the infamous stare. "Thanks... but, no thanks. Neither one of us should be on a first name policy with the other."

"Not even after two years?", Pegasus asked.

Kaiba's gaze narrowed. "Not even after two years."

The toast popped out of the toaster, and Pegasus put it on a plate. He pulled tomato sauce, shredded cheese, and sliced mushrooms out of the fridge, and sat them on the counter. Kaiba looked at the refrigerated foods with a raised eyebrow.

"Pizza, homemade," Pegasus said suddenly, as he took a butter knife out of the drawer in front of him and opened the can of tomato sauce.

Kaiba licked his lips, staring at the mushrooms. Pegasus put the knife, covered from the top to the middle in a thin cover of red, into the sink, and started to sprinkle a heavy layer of the shredded mozzarella cheese onto the sauce-covered toast.

"I'm going to bed," Kaiba said, standing up.

"You might want to lay down on the couch," Pegasus said. "Bakura-boy is laying down in your bed."

"Don't call him that," Kaiba commanded. "Only I get the nickname. In fact, I hate that you brought him into our house. I don't want him here. It's supposed to be just you and me. Just us. Now..."

"I understand," Pegasus said, putting the plate into the microwave, and sealing the ingredients. He put the ingredients back into the refrigerator, and started the microwave. "You think we should be... alone together, that we shouldn't share what we have with anyone else, that's it ours and only ours to keep."

Kaiba felt a chill go up his spine. "No! It'd be fine if it was Mitsuko, or any of our relatives! I mean that I hate Bakura, and I don't want you bringing him into the house! You will make him leave!"

"Don't worry, he'll be gone by morning," Pegasus said. The microwave started beeping, and he pulled the plate out of it. He handed it to Kaiba. "Lunch for the road, okay? Why don't you go get a laptop and do something?"

Kaiba nodded and walked into the living room. He quickly ate his lunch, and fell asleep right on the couch.


	4. Feelings

Kaiba awoke with a jolt. He was quite enjoying his dream where he was killing Bakura by shooting him with a gun, leaning into Pegasus the whole time. He couldn't decide which part was better, killing Bakura, not having to worry about his awful, torturous past anymore, or leaning into Pegasus, to stay with him forever and to know him until the end of his days, not caring about the age difference between them...

Bakura! It was definitely the part about killing Bakura. There was nothing good about Pegasus, as far as Kaiba was concerned. All he was, was the owner of the house Kaiba lived in for the next fifteen years. After those fifteen years, Kaiba wouldn't have to worry about one person. The threat of encountering Bakura again was still strong, but at least he would have his company back, maids to serve to his every need, and no Pegasus to live with.

He looked out the window. It looked about dusk out there. Kaiba heard a familiar noise: the sound of idle chatter. One voice was Pegasus, the other was Bakura. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but knowing those two, it could only have been trouble. He walked closer to his bedroom, where the two were standing. He stood next to the doorframe, as the door was cracked, and he wanted to see what was happening.

He saw the two standing next to one another. As Bakura turned away, his hand rubbing up and down the back of his scalp, Pegasus grabbed him from behind and turned him around. The two were positioned as if they were dancing, with Pegasus doing a mighty fine dip on Bakura. He then proceeded to lift Bakura's head closer to his and lean in. He stopped as their lips touched.

Bakura looked almost terrified at first, his eyes wide with fear. He didn't try to pull away, which was bizarre to Kaiba. If a person he didn't like was kissing **him** on the mouth, he would've immediately attempted to pull away, in an effort to get the person off of him. But, Bakura didn't.

After a few minutes, Bakura seemed to calm down, and he closed his eyes. He leaned in just a little closer to get a little bit of the taste of Pegasus's lips, considering that Pegasus was getting enough of his. Kaiba looked at the scene, cleching his hands into tight fists. Another minute: tighter. Another minute: even tighter. The next minute, Pegasus picked Bakura up off his feet, and Bakura threw his hands around Pegasus's neck.

Kaiba's blood was boiling. He barged in, catching the two in the position that they were in, right then and there. He threw Bakura out of Pegasus's arms, and stomped on his chest repeatedly. he wanted to keep doing over and over and over again, but Pegasus put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Pegasus pulled Kaiba to his chest, and swung his arms around him and sqeezed him tight.

Kaiba started feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside. He felt comfort, like nothing could hurt him as long as Pegasus was right there with him, in contact with him. It was as if Pegasus was his Guardian Angel, and the way for Pegasus to give Kaiba his shield was to hug him. Was this what love felt like?

Kaiba immediately wiped that thought from his mind. He couldn't believe what he was thinking. Was he falling in love with Maximillion Pegasus? It couldn't be. It wasn't right to be in love with the man you despised the most. As far as Kaiba knew, the only person he was supposed to care about at this point was himself, now that Mokuba wasn't alive anymore.

Mokuba.

Great, now thinking awful thoughts about Pegasus brought his little brother back to his mind. Mokuba didn't even deserve to die. Actually, now that Kaiba thought about it, Pegasus was only Number 2 on the Most Hated List. Number 1 went to Bakura, he had caused the death of the person he cared about most. Kaiba didn't even blame himself for Mokuba's death, he blamed Bakura. He hadn't blamed himself from the start. He had told Mokuba to dodge Bakura's weapon, but it was just too fast for Mokuba.

If Bakura had never thrown his dagger in the first place, then Kaiba wouldn't have had to tell Mokuba to dodge it. It's not like Kaiba threw the dagger and **didn't** tell Mokuba to dodge it. He tried, and he might've failed, but that's the way life goes. The only thing he would never feel better about was the fact that he hadn't killed Bakura when he had the chance.

Kaiba felt a small pat on his shoulder. Pegasus was gesturing to tell him to help Bakura to his feet. For Pegasus? Anything... no! He would only do it because he didn't want to get arrested again. He took a few steps away from Pegasus. He felt a slight pang of guilt for leaving his arms, gut he quickly dismissed that thought, erasing the feeling from his body altogether. He got onto his knees, and stood up, along with Bakura, who's hand was inside of his.

Bakura nodded in both apology and thanks as he walked over to Kaiba's bed. He picked up a small suitcase, and threw it over his shoulder. He then proceeded to walk over to Pegasus and hugs him before exiting the room. Both Pegasus and Kaiba watched from the doorway as he waved goodbye and left the house entirely.

"I'm going to miss him," Pegasus muttered, stepping out of the room and into the kitchen.

Kaiba looked at Pegasus as if he had lost his mind. He followed him in the kitchen, where there was a wonderful, fragrant odor travelling around it, and spreading throughout the whole house. It was a scent Kaiba recognized as soon as it took it's venture into his nose: Filet Mignon.

"So, you cook breakfast for me," Kaiba started, "you free me from chores, you give $5,000 and give me the whole day to do whatever I feel like, give me something I absolutely love for lunch, and now you're cooking my favorite dinner. Those are all good things, but then let's go to the things that are bad.

"You invite Bakura onto the island without saying anything to me, you allow him in the house, and my room without saying anything to me, you kiss him on the mouth, **in my bedroom** , and then you make me help him up while he leaves the house! What kind of sick, twisted, madman are you?!"

Pegasus put the lid on the frying pan, and walked to Kaiba. He pulled him to his body, so that they touched one another. He held Kaiba so tight, he couldn't move, but Kaiba didn't care. He was getting that warm and fuxxy feeling inside, and felt like nothing could hurt him...

He groaned, and kicked Pegasus in the ankle to get him to back off. It didn't work; Pegasus just tightened his grip around the horrified 16-year-old. Kaiba bit him on the wrist, and that got him to finally let go. He put his other hand on top of his bitten wrist, and ran to a drawer next to the drawer of silverware. Kaiba smiled, and sat down at the table. Seconds later, he saw Pegasus wrapping the bitten wrist with gauze.

"I'm sorry," Kaiba said, his hand spread across his forehead. "I just... you scared me."

Pegasus smiled, and pulled out a chair to sit next to Kaiba. He put a hand on Kaiba's thigh, and Kaiba looked up at him. "Were you scared that I was falling in love with Bakura... instead of you?"

"What?!", Kaiba asked, apparently shocked.

"I know how you feel about me, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus informed him. "You love me, you just don't want to admit it, even to yourself. That's why you've been denying it all this time. I told Bakura to do this, to come to the house, to not truly react to anything you did, to kiss me, so I could test your strength. Turns out, you can't stand another human being putting hands on me."

Kaiba gulped. "I'm not in love with you, Pegasus. I've never been, and I never will be. Looks like you're just going to be stuck where you are: Singletown."

Kaiba stood up, and walked into his room. He stared out the window, and looked outside, where the sun had almost entirely set, and the moon was almost entirely in the sky. It looked like it was going to be a clear, cloudless night with a full moon, which was perfect for a night on a boat.

Kaiba was just thinking of Bakura getting on a boat, then the boat crashing into some rocks and making Bakura drown. He imagined watching the crash from the shore, laughing, along with Pegasus, who was standing behind him while doing so.

He tried to keep any thoughts of Pegasus out of his mind. Of course, this proved to be impossible, as he found himself throwing out a thought of Bakura and replacing it with a thought of Pegasus. It was strange to him, he didn't know why he seemed to be thinking about Pegasus a lot that day. As he looked at the people walking on the sidewalk outside, he saw Mitsuko walking to her apartment down on the corner of Hirotsu Lane and Kyotchi Avenue. Kaiba sighed out a deep sigh. That was when he realized that tomorrow would be another normal day in the Pegasus-Kaiba household.

No more free breakfast, no more escape from chores, no more free money, no more doing what he wanted, no more early morning visits to the Game Shop, no more coffee with breakfast. Every day after today would be normal, most likely going along with his birthday next year. Pegasus hadn't done anything for Kaiba the year before, he practically just made that day worse. Kaiba could say goodbye to easy living for another fifteen years.

While attempting to erase that thought from his mind, Kaiba fell right asleep on his bed, dreaming of dancing with Pegasus privately in the backyard of Pegasus's house, singing about Bakura dying and how happy they were about it. He kept a smile on his face althroughout that dream, both in his mind and on the outside.


	5. Thievery

Kaiba woke up, tears streaming down his face. Mokuba. That's all he could ever think about, now. Mokuba. As the tears continued their snaky path down his face, Kaiba felt a hand move down his head.

"There, there," Pegasus said, consoling him. "It'll be fine."

Kaiba couldn't help himself. He turned over and leaned into Pegasus, letting his tears fall onto his robe, and allowing Pegasus to continue petting him. Kaiba didn't care what it looked like at this point. He was distressed, and he couldn't think.

"It'll be okay, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus told him.

"Call me Seto," Kaiba said.

Pegasus leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Kaiba sat up, and leaned over to kiss Pegasus back...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kaiba screamed. Had he really dreamed about Pegasus, and kissing him? The other times Pegasus was in his dreams, it was as a tag-a-long, not as a lover. Now, Pegasus was kissing him, and he was kissing him back. Kaiba let out a sigh, but quickly put a hand over his mouth. It sounded like a sigh of disappointment, not of regret. He face-palmed himself, instead.

Kaiba looked at the clock. It was about 7:30. It couldn't be possible, that Pegasus hadn't woken him up like that. He climbed out of bed, and went to the kitchen. There, he found dishes put away, the table and counters scrubbed down, and another plate of breakfast with a mug of coffee next to it on the table. Next to the plate was a note that said-

 **I had a meeting. I won't be back until around dinnertime, but you can fend for yourself, I'm sure. Also, you don't have to do any chores if you don't want to. See you later, Seto.**

 **Yours, Max**

To Kaiba, it looked like Pegasus was really pushing for the first-name policy between the two of them. _Only in my dreams, Pegasus_ , Kaiba thought, smiling. He quickly frowned. _Did I just say_ my _dreams? God dammit, I am losing my mind._

Kaiba heard a knock on the door, and went to answer it, but he looked through the tiny peep hole on the door first. Who should it be but Bakura... and Mitsuko. Kaiba froze. Mitsuko said that she and Bakura had met, but this was bad. He pulled the door open. Bakura was smiling, but he looked different. He looked like he did when he had killed Mokuba.

His dark side.

"Hello, Kaiba. I came to ask you something. Please, come with me. I promise, it will be worth your time. I'll try my best not to waste it," Bakura said.

Bakura walked over to the couch, with Mitsuko in his arms. Mitsuko was leaning into him, with her hand on Bakura's shoulder, as if the two were deeply in love, and Mitsuko was showing it. Kaiba couldn't take his eyes off of the way Bakura was holding Mitsuko's other hand, the way he was rubbing his thumb over the top of it. Kaiba couldn't stop staring.

"What? I thought you were in love with Pegasus," Bakura said, laying Mitsuko on the couch and sitting next to her. Kaiba growled with rage.

"I'm not in love with him," Kaiba said, his teeth grinding themselves together. "I don't love anyone but my brother... who you killed."

"Yes, that's what I'm here about," Bakura said, smiling. "You see, this girl here, I stole her soul from her. Now, before killing your brother, I stole his soul from him, too. If you give me Pegasus, so I can steal his soul, I'll give you your brother's, and this girl's. I'll also pleaded guilty to my crimes, and get you home. If you don't get me Pegasus's soul within the next week, however, your soul will belong to me. You'll see your brother, and this girl, in a place I like to call 'Soul Hell'.

"I've been there. They take one look at you, and determine whether or not you're allowed to get a good treatment. If you do, you have to sweep a desert, which, may I note, is impossible. If not, you're one of the worst-treated servants that has ever existed in history. Of course, not many people know about this place, except the people there."

Kaiba put a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Wait. For the last two years, my brother has been in a place comparable to Hell?!"

Bakura nodded. "This is gonna hurt, and I'm going to laugh every second you cry.", Kaiba told him.

Kaiba swung to punch Bakura in the face, but Bakura countered by kicking him in the crotch. That made Kaiba fall to the ground, and moan. Bakura stood up and laughed. "I'm just going to laugh every second **you** cry. Wait a minute, I can't laugh for the rest of my life. Oh, well. Remember, you've got a week. One of your souls will belong to me, whether it's Pegasus's or yours."

He lifted Mitsuko's body up, and walked out the door. Kaiba put a hand on the coffee table, and stood up. He ran to the phone, and dialed the number for Industrial Illusions.

"Kaiba-boy? What's going on?", Pegasus asked.

Kaiba was running out of air. "Help. Please, come back. Help."

"I'm coming. Stay right where you are."

And, with that, Pegasus hastily hang up. Kaiba took in a deep breath, but barely any air was able to drift into his lungs. Was he actually, practically, dying because of a little kick to the crotch? He couldn't believe himself. He passed out.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Kaiba! Kaiba! Seto Kaiba! Are you alright?!"

Kaiba's eyes opened slightly. Pegasus breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you were dead." He lifted Kaiba and hugged him. "I'm glad you're okay."

Kaiba didn't do anything. "Thank you... for everything, for all of this."

Pegasus stood up, with Kaiba in his arms. "You'll be fine," he said. "I'll get you help. What happened?"

"Bakura showed up... he was evil, for some reason... he took Mitsuko's and Mokuba's souls... wants yours, or he'll take mine... I went to attack him... he counterattacked me... did this..."

"He did more than that, Kaiba," Pegasus said. "He took a fragment, just a fragment, of your soul. That fragment that you need to function properly, it's with him, now. And, I can tell you one thing. The Bakura that you just had an encounter with was the Spirit of the Millennium Ring.

"He's the evil Bakura. He'd do anything to stop you from doing what you've been told to do, just so he can get your soul. He'll come after mine, anyway."

Kaiba heard what he said, but couldn't respond. "Pegasus. Please. Help me. Please."

Pegasus carried him off to his bedroom, and laid him down. "Don't worry. I'll get you help."

Kaiba slowly closed his eyes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What am I supposed to do? He's lost his Life Force," Pegasus explained.

"Hmm. That's bad. Real bad. I'll see what I can do."

With that, the man on the other line hung up.

"Oh, Pharaoh-boy. Get here, and get here now," Pegasus muttered.


End file.
